Dozens of Oregon and Washington business leaders and everyday citizens sent a letter to the governors of Oregon and Washington, asking their political support in resurrecting a smaller, less expensive version of the Columbia River Crossing.

* Join Richard Read at noon Thursday on oregonlive.com for a live chat on the Columbia River Crossing developments

The new $2.75 billion bridge idea they floated would include light rail, and would use a phased approach to replace the Interstate 5 bridges over the Columbia River between Portland and Vancouver.

The CRC project, declared dead a more than month ago when Washington state legislators failed to pass a transportation bill that would have matched Oregon's $450 million share.

"I am encouraged by the bi-state support for this phased approach and plan to
engage the Legislature and State Treasurer in the next steps to review the
feasibility," Gov. John Kitzhaber said tonight. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee agreed and issued this statement:

"The phased approach to
building the bridge is an intriguing, bi-state proposal that Gov. Kitzhaber and
I have discussed. I believe the idea deserves serious consideration. When I was
in Clark County recently, many people urged me not to give up on finding a way
to replace the aging bridge over the Columbia. If we don't find a way to build
the bridge as designed — that we have invested time and money in and which has
broad community support — it will likely be a decade before we can make
progress. I will ask our Department of Transportation and others to move quickly
to vet this idea. Specifically, I want a review of the potential impacts of this
phased approach on tolling, light rail, permitting and mitigation. We will also
continue discussions with the community, local officials and others who have an
interest in this essential link to our region's economy.

Check back later tonight on oregonlive.com for more about the details of the less-costly CRC. Also, read a full report in Thursday's Oregonian.